


Riddening: Rewritten

by Misul



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-22
Updated: 2019-08-14
Packaged: 2020-07-11 09:17:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19925557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Misul/pseuds/Misul
Summary: A revised (and better) version of The Riddening World, one of my old works.





	1. Marked

Lee Shang - your average 16 year old. Enjoys playing games, going out with friends, and is an avid follower of every social media platform that exists. At any given time, he knows exactly what is happening to all the famous faces of Instagram or Twitter. He’s got multiple accounts on several platforms, all with a different purpose. Sometimes, the passing thought of all of this being illegal had pranced along and crossed his mind, but each time he assured himself that it was just fine.

He had just woken up, thrown his covers off of him and sat at the edge of his bed, rubbing his piercingly blue eyes awake and ran his fingers through his burnt brown hair, scratching at whatever stubble had grown on his face. Promptly, he got up, stretched with a yawn, and made his way to begin his normal, orderly routine: Shower, change into proper clothes, breakfast, talk to mum, and go out the door and into the world. Every day, the same thing. Off to school on weekdays, sometimes rushing through the movements or going through them at a glacial pace due to the excess amount of time he has due to waking up early. On weekends, he’d wake up later, and had two options most of the time - go out with friends, or stay at home and play some games. Typically, it was the latter.

However, today was an unknowingly special, peculiar day. Two weeks before the end of the second term of school, his life was about to drastically change.

* * *

“Hey guys!” Lee called over to his friends, all of them turning around in unison and smiles appearing on some of them; others beckoned him over to join them. “Glad to meet somewhere else other than the school gate.” He grinned, joining in on the circle of boys. “Anyone going to buy something?” He gestured over to the shop that they were standing in front of. Majority of them shook their heads, looking down at their phones. It was a measly group of 5 guys, and they always stuck close together - and had done so since the beginning of their school lives.

“I’ll get something.” One of the guys piped up, stepped forward and into the shop, Lee followed him in and hurriedly fished out some money from his pocket. As he walked around the shop, finally landing at the shelves with the vast selection of crisps, he hovered his finger between two packets - One infused with spicy jalapeno peppers, and the other was prawn cocktail flavoured. He gave in and succumbed to the better known flavour of prawn cocktail, together with orange juice he picked up on the way to the till. He made his payment and went outside, seeing the other four boys still sunken into their phones, their thumbs mindlessly dragging over their screens.

“Dave’s still at the till, so.” Lee slung his bag on his arm and opened it, putting both the drink and the crisp packet inside, zipped it back up again and put it on his shoulder, gripping the strap, waiting for his friend to get out of the shop so they could all walk to school together. A small glance at his phone - there were a couple of updates from Twitter, about a hot new scandal that had just been unveiled.

Soon enough, Dave left the store, a four-pack of energy drinks hastily being crammed into his backpack. He grinned to the others to signal that he’s ready to go, the group putting their phones in their pockets.

“Let’s go then!” Dave cheered, put his backpack onto his shoulders, and walked ahead of the others. The whole group soon got moving, talking amongst themselves, Lee somewhere in the back talking with Dave, as the boy in question got out one of the four cans of energy drinks and opened it, beginning to drink it. The biting smell of the drink filled the air around them, making Lee scrunch his nose for a brief moment.

Quite quickly, they had reached the school and walked in through the gate, which had decorative arrowheads on the ends. The four-floored building towered above them, a couple of windows patched together with tape and cardboard, caused by accidents mainly involving flying basketballs and footballs. The bell rang without warning - the group all looking at each other, mouths agape. With no hesitation, the group broke out into a sprint. A spooked Dave downed his entire drink, and mindlessly chucked it on the ground before chasing after the others.

They all arrived at their form room; their teacher looked at them with a tinge of disappointment. After sitting down and going through the register, the usual chatter had broken out among the class, the group of boys laughing at each other for letting themselves run this late.

After being dismissed to go off to their lessons, the boys broke up their group and began walking opposite ways. They were let out early, so the corridors weren’t quite full yet. A heavy, thick feeling surrounded Lee, almost like he was being captured by a really dense blanket. Hoping to ignore it, he carried on walking, a faint hope that it would go away. He had minor anxiety, but nothing to this degree.

Within seconds, a sharp pain struck through his stomach, his nerves going haywire in an attempt to numb the pain as quickly as possible. Lee clutched desperately at the point of impact, nearly bending down to the floor to try and suppress the immense pain that was now radiating through his body. Red had begun seeping into his shirt and through his fingers, tears streaming down the boy’s cheeks from the sheer pain he was enduring. It had hit him that he was bleeding, but had no idea from what. He looked around, attempting to speak. Nothing came out of his mouth, just the movements. People began crowding around him, some sneaking a photo and others having their phones to their ears as they were hopefully calling the ambulance.

As he was kneeling on the floor, doubled down with pain, both reputationional and physical pain, he saw a vaguely familiar looking, platinum haired girl among the forest of legs that he was level with. One thing that was completely unfamiliar was the fact that she had a huge scythe adorned with crystals that resembled ice. Her clothing was completely unrecognisable, something along the lines of a long white jacket with embossed patterns with golden accents and white boots with golden heels. The girl had turned around and for a split second - Lee had caught what her face looked like, and the heavy, thick air around him had dissipated. But, within mere seconds, his vision began to tunnel and fade, and he could hear his own breathing and heartbeat in his ears. The feeling of being suffocated in his own mind soon became far too much for Lee to handle, his body going limp and collapsing onto the floor.

People around him had begun to panic, a teacher finally attending to the commotion and putting Lee into the recovery position. They dispersed the crowd and told them off to go to their lessons, explaining to the medics what had happened from their point of view. The medics, extremely concerned, noted down what they could, took Lee’s vitals, and laid him out on a stretcher, ready to take him elsewhere.

* * *

At last, Lee got a grip of his consciousness, and had woken up to being gently thrashed around in the back of an ambulance as they passed over speedbumps. He tried to get up, take a look around, but the medic in the ambulance had stopped him from doing so. That, and the sharp pain that had just struck him at his stomach again. He could feel the pressure of a medical bandage around his stomach, and he tried to ignore the pain as much as possible. Listening to the nurse go on and explain where they were going whilst asking a couple of questions, Lee could only answer with head shakes and nods, and a few one word answers. He stared at the ceiling, wondering how he ended up in this situation. All he could recall was the feeling of heaviness, getting stabbed out of thin air, and seeing the girl among the sea of legs. He gave a sigh, wincing at the pain just slightly. The sirens that could be heard from the outside also weren’t helping him with trying to think.

“I’ll nap.” He said simply, hoping that the medic wouldn’t panic. They nodded, worry written on their face as they watched Lee shut his eyes and drift off to sleep. Wherever they were, Lee knew it would still take a bit to get to a hospital.

Turns out, while Lee was napping, his consciousness had been snatched from beneath his feet again. He only awoke when he was in a hospital bed, a few tubes coming from his arms and a small cluster of wires came from his chest as an ECG beeped beside him. He sighed, not moving this time, and just let himself lay there, listening to the beeping that was bound to drive him mad eventually. He turned his head, looking at the table that was next to his bed, seeing a couple of flowers and a few cards. There was also an energy drink beside the flowers, causing a smile to spread across Lee’s face. As he turned to look the other way, towards the window, the orange and pink tinted sky and clouds marked the end of the day. He assumed he would be walking home by now, and his mum didn’t arrive home until quite a while later.

He took a look at the tubing that was connected to his arms. He was given a blood transfusion - most likely due to his sudden blood loss - and had a little clamp over his finger that measured oxygen levels. A nurse that worked there had passed, seeing the Lee was awake. Lee noticed her and waved, the nurse putting away whatever she was holding and attended to him.

“What time is it?” Lee asked, his voice croaky. “Did I actually get stabbed?” He pointed to his stomach, hoping that she would shake her head. The nurse gave a hesitant nod, to which Lee just sighed. “I was hoping it was only a dream.”

“Its 6:12PM, and yes, you did get stabbed. No, it is not a dream.” The nurse answered. “I’ll give you a couple more minutes before we ask you what had happened, since we all have somewhat of a story but it doesn’t seem complete. I was hoping you could fill us in.” The nurse gave a nod, and Lee returned it, the nurse going off to the other patients in the room.

‘Ah, my mum gets off of work in 45 minutes.’ Lee thought, looking to the side at the little table, reaching his hand over and picked up a letter. He opened it and began to read it, the letter reading a simple ‘Get well soon!’ followed by five names and signatures, all from the group of friends he was with in the morning. He grinned at it, setting it off to the side. After opening a couple more, he put them to the side, all of them being ‘Get well soon’ and the like. One letter in particular had caught his attention, saying ‘Get well soon’ followed by the words ‘You’ve been marked. The day after you’re discharged, go to the shop you were at this morning. I’ll explain when you arrive.’ There was no signature attached to the letter, and Lee looked at it, taking a look at the cover, the back, and then back at the contents. He set it aside, and made a mental note of it.

The nurse soon returned with a clipboard and a pen, getting a chair and sat beside him.

“So, could you recall what had happened when you got stabbed?” The nurse asked, her pen lingering over the paper. Lee reflected for a second before answering.

“I was walking along my school corridor, and there was no one in front of me. All of a sudden, I feel this sharp pain and there I am, on the floor, clutching my stomach. The air that was around me felt heavy and thick, and it got kinda hard to breathe.” Lee explained, the nurse noting down everything.

“Are you sure there was no one in front? Or behind you?” The nurse asked, the boy recalling the girl that was standing and looking over her shoulder. He shook his head, both to respond to the nurse and his thoughts. It couldn’t have been her - once he saw her, the heaviness had disappeared. And, there was no possibility of making a stab wound with a scythe of that caliber.

“There was no one. The corridor was empty. We got let out of form early. Also, how long will I have to stay here?” Lee explained and asked, the nurse looking back at her paper once more and noted it down, looking back up at him.

“A-alright. So this is the truth?” The nurse pried, wanting to make sure. Lee nodded, taking a deep breath. “Thank you, Lee. And I’m hoping we can get you discharged as soon as possible, but we can’t predict how quickly a stab wound like that will heal, sorry.” She got up, taking the clipboard with her. To the nurses vague answer, Lee let out a little groan. Eager to go out, try to figure out who was the girl that he saw, he also wanted to meet whoever wanted to meet him. He knew that his mum would show up as soon as she got off of work, and even quicker now that she was going to get news that he was conscious again. He closed his eyes, hoping that all of this will get an explanation soon.

* * *

Within two weeks, all filled with his friends visiting him, to his mother seeing him, and all the medical part of his situation, he was let go. His stomach had healed enough for him to be discharged safely, with only a very minor risk of the wound reopening again. But, just to be sure, the nurses had given him spare bandages and a gauze so that if something did happen, he could get himself to fix it.

He could finally breathe easy, and could finally actually walk around without being bound to a hospital bed. Before he left, he thanked the nurses and walked into the car with his mum. “You have a lot of catching up to do, young man. You’ve missed two weeks worth of school because of a mystery stab. But, I am glad to see you’re alive.” His mother looked over at him, giving a smile as she drove the car back to their house.

“It’s fine, mum, my friends told me what’s been going on and I’ve been doing some worksheets they’ve given me.” Lee smiled, remembering he was supposed to see someone after he got discharged. “Uh, do you mind if I go out tomorrow? Its a Saturday, so…” Lee looked over.

“Of course! But please stay safe, especially with your stab. It may have healed over well and quick, but that doesn’t mean you can do flips and things again. And be careful of what you eat, too. Don’t want you tearing up your insides with salt and vinegar crisps.” She grinned. “Your dad’s been worried too, but of course he’s in Germany doing his truck business. He has called to ask how you’ve been doing.”

“Ah, so he’s distributing in Germany now?” Lee asked. “I remember the day before I got… this, he was in France, going onto Italy to deliver some food or something.” He smiled.

“Yup, your dad has been travelling a lot more lately, and a lot faster. These warm autumn days aren’t the best for delivering food, especially when your company can’t afford the best cooling system there is.” His mum smiled, pulling up into the drive. “Let’s play some Mario Kart, shall we?” She suggested, Lee’s eyes going wide, making him scramble out of the car in a hurry. As he speedwalked to the door, he could hear his mother's laughter behind him as she locked the car and went to open the door.

* * *

The day after he had gotten discharged and got a good night’s rest, Lee was determined to go and see whoever it was that didn’t put a name to their letter. He assumed that whoever this was knew what they were doing, and also knew Lee, he was soon headed out the door in the direction of the school, taking an odd turn to get to the shop. Standing outside of the shop, he looked a little out of place.

The news of him getting discharged were bound to fly around his year group with a lot of speed, and now that it was effectively a holiday for the next two weeks, he had more than enough time to go around and explain what had happened.

Soon, a black haired girl had pranced into the store, walking out with two drinks within a couple of minutes. She pressed it against the back of Lee’s neck, the man shriveling up at the chill of it. He whipped his head around to see who it was, and it was someone from his form class.

“Hey Aki.” Lee rubbed the back of his neck, wiping off the cold sensation. “Was it you that gave me that odd note with no name?” The girl only nodded as a reply. “So is it safe for me to assume that it was you who had that… huge… scythe thing? And the white hair?”

“Yup.” Aki stabbed her pouch of juice, sipping it. “As I promised, I will explain it to you. Let’s take a trip to the park, shall we?” She suggested, Lee only giving a nod. And so, they were walking in the direction of the nearby park.   


  
“So.” Aki swallowed, clearing her throat. “You got marked, as I said in the letter. Which means that, you got stabbed by something. And that something is a Riddening.” Before Lee could open his mouth to ask what a Riddening was, Aki continued, “A Riddening is a… semi-physical manifestation of the nightmares that were dreamt of. I say semi-physical, because ordinary people can’t see them. They also can’t see Reapers, which is what I am,” She paused. “And what you will become quite soon.”    


  
Lee was taken aback by the skillfully concise set of information he was told. As they walked around, Lee milled through his thoughts to try and make a little more sense of them.   


  
“So what you’re saying is that people can’t see these… Nightmares called the Riddening, which are huge monsters that apparently stab people, and people like you, Reapers, kill them?” Lee looked at her, throwing his now finished juice in the bin.   


  
“Exactly. And the whole shebang with you getting marked, or stabbed, as you would put it, is that if the Riddening that marked you somehow kills you, it will try to get into your body and take control.” Aki stopped walking and looked at him, taking her last few sips of juice. “So, to prevent that from happening, I think it’s best if you join us.” Reaching into her pockets, she pulled out two leather, fingerless gloves, with a bandage stitched on it, which also had a red print of a horned, sort of square head on the bandage.    


  
“That, what I just gave you - is a Reaper Item. It’s basically the thing that validates you to fight the Riddening. They take on multitudes of shapes, such as keys,” She held up her own, a black key with a crystal embedded into the flat part of it, “Bracelets, gloves, rings, hairpins, whatever you can think of.” Chucking her juice into the bin, she cleared her throat, and put her hands in her pockets. “This is the thing that, once activated, changes the way you look, and turns your Reaper Item into a weapon. Every weapon as a specific way of getting activated, and its individual to the person, so, experiment!” She cheered. “But, of course, please do keep in mind that if you do go through with this, your life will drastically change. You’ll have to be extremely good at timekeeping if you want to do this alongside schoolwork. Thankfully, its a holiday now, but I do think you have to catch up a lot on schoolwork, and the like.”   


  
Lee held the two gloves in his hands, gobsmacked by the words that had come out of Aki’s mouth. He put them on, fastened the clasp, and a tingling feeling washed over him, either because of adrenaline, or it was an odd effect of the gloves.   


  
“I’ll see you tomorrow then, this park?” She questioned. “You’ll be free, right?”    


  
Lee glanced at her and nodded.   


  
“Yeah, this park, tomorrow. Same time.” He replied, looking at his gloved hands in awe.   


  
“Alright.” Aki waved to him, walking off into the distance. 


	2. Unexpected Union

“Hey Aki!” Lee called, running over, his gloves on his hands as he approached the girl. “I found out how to activate them!” He spread his hands wide but Aki intercepted him, stopping his arms from coming into contact with each other.

  
“Not now, dumbass.” Aki hissed at him, glancing around her and putting his arms to his sides. “We’re on the street right now, if you haven’t realised. And I told you we would do all of this once we get to the park. Are we in the park? No, we aren’t.” Sighing, the girl continued walking in the direction of the park they were supposed to meet at. 

  
Lee and Aki were both classmates, and sat next to each other for a brief period of time in a couple of lessons. They didn’t exactly seek to hang out with each other, but they knew each other enough to hold a reasonable conversation. 

  
Once the two of them arrived at the park and found a secluded spot, Aki cleared her throat and stood up straight, taking her key out of her trouser pocket, and held it loosely in her hand. Lee stood opposite her, flexing his hands a little. 

  
“Right, before you actually do the thing,” She paused, “I have to warn you that the things you might see are… Terrifying. Yup. That’s the simplest way to put it. I assume you haven’t worn these much?” The girl gestured to his hands, pointing at them with her key. Lee shook his head. 

  
“Only long enough to figure out how to activate them. After that, I never really wore them.” Lee admitted, getting ready to clap his hands together. 

  
“Alright.” Aki grinned, and twirled the key in her hands, from her pinky finger right over to her index finger. Then, her hair bleached from black to white from the roots outwards, her hoodie glimmered before turning white, long and cape-like, with golden stripes and accents materialising themselves, and epaulettes bursting into life on her shoulders. Her shirt formed itself into a more corset-shaped piece, with an embossed swirl pattern and a golden trim. A skirt also flared out at the edge of the corset. Plain trainers turned into golden-heeled, shiny white boots, and the key that she held in her hand had sprouted into crystals that soon turned black, the blade of a scythe forming to a curved point. Finally, a golden tiara, with a white, crystal face right in the middle of it, shone atop her head. Lee looked at her, taken seriously aback, his mouth gaped open. “Come on. Do your thing now. No point staring.” Jokingly, Aki stomped the ground to try and snap him out of his trance. Apparently, it worked. 

  
Lee took a deep breath and clapped with quite a bit of force. His shirt bleached white, a light brown leather coat draped itself over his shoulders, the sleeves rolling themselves up. His trousers burned to dark gray, and his shoes went from tacky, bright orange trainers, to dark, heavy-looking combat boots, laced tightly over the cuffs of his trousers. Meanwhile, a thick, dark brown belt stretched from his shoulder loop on his jacket, soon being decorated with pockets and miscellaneous items. At last, his gloves burst into crimson flames, and climbed up to his forearm, forming large, gunmetal gray gloves that looked unproportionally huge. The knuckles glittered into a gold colour, a worn bandage tied itself around the palms of the fists, and his eyes faded to red. 

  
Aki stood back, her hand on her hip and a look of approval on her face as she watched Lee’s transformation for the first time. Although, she eyed him closely, as if something was missing. She shrugged it off, and succeeded in trying to hide her disappointment. 

  
“That looks neat.” She gestured to Lee’s coat with her own. “See anything different?” Aki asked, vaguely spreading her arms and looking around the area, Lee taking a good look at his surroundings. 

  
“Uh, it’s quite a lot darker. And the atmosphere feels tense and heavy again.” The boy shivered, remembering that it was the exact same sensation he felt just before he got stabbed. 

  
“Well, that’s because there’s Riddening around us, to put it simply.” Aki rested her scythe on her shoulder, “There’s three worlds: Ours, The Spirit world and the Riddening Realm. The real world is, kind of like limbo? This is what we call the 'True World'” She furrowed her brows, hoping she chose the correct word. Lee gave a nod, acknowledging the answer. “The Riddening Realm is where all the Riddening come from. It’s ruled by the Ridden Lord, and he absolutely hates the real world, and wants it as his new turf. The Spirit world is where all the cleansed Riddening go, and where the souls of the dead also go. It’s impossible for us or anyone from the Riddening Realm to go there, unless we get summoned.” Aki looked at him, expecting questions. 

  
“So the Riddening Realm is like hell and the Spirit world is like heaven?” Lee asked, earning a nod from Aki. “Also… If the Riddening Realm has a ‘Lord’, does the real world also have one?” He took another good look around, making sure that nothing was creeping up on them. 

  
“Uhhh, yes it does. It’s me.” Aki’s face flushed red, her embarrassment getting the best of her. “I was the one… Who created this whole dilemma. With a friend, when we were ten. You’ll get more of that story once you get awakened.” 

  
“Awakened?” Jumping back, Lee looked at her. “And what do you mean you created all of this?!” 

  
“You’ll get your answers soon, now we have a job to do.” Resting her scythe in both of her hands, she jumped up into a tree, managing to scramble herself to the top of it and get a good view of their surroundings. From the vantage point, she spotted three large Riddening within close proximity to them. Lee watched her, heavily confused. He looked down at his fists, opening and closing them. Whenever the fingers touched the palm, a metallic ‘clink’ sound came from them. “Ever played a platformer with something like this?” Aki called from up in the tree. 

  
“Yeah, I think so.” Lee gave a shrug. 

  
“Just follow the movements the game characters do then! It should work the same.” The girl dropped down to the ground, landing with some grace, not being physically hurt. 

  
“So there’s no fall damage either, I see.” Lee muttered to himself, Aki giving a nod. 

  
“It’s because Grim Reapers are like spirits.” She looked at him, beginning to leave the park with her scythe resting atop her shoulder, her hand holding it firmly in place. Hesitant, Lee followed her. “It’s difficult to explain. But there’s no fall damage, and you can do cool tricks and things. Like magic. That’s what the Awakening does.” 

  
Lee gave a nod, dark, almost black smoke emerging from behind a building and made its way towards them. From among the smoke, electric blue eyes were seen looking around, until they locked their gaze on Lee and Aki. 

  
“Ah, here we go. Your first Ridden.” Aki pointed to it. Lee was frozen solid into the ground, his arms by his side, unable to move, breathing heavy and laboured. As she noticed this, she gently poked him on the shoulder. “It’s fine. I’ll help you kill it.” Seeing that her tactics didn’t work, and that the Ridden was coming closer to them at considerable speed, she took matters into her own hands. Her eyes flitted between the approaching Ridden and Lee. 

  
Gripping her scythe firmly with both hands, she ran at the two bright blue eyes. The blade was following behind her, being it the fastest way for her to run, and she launched herself up into the air, swinging the scythe to be above her for her to gain more height. The eyes that were trained on her leaped at her, the Ridden revealing itself from among the smoke. It looked to resemble a tiger, but it’s fur was completely black, with the exception of a few red stripes. It’s claws were huge - and they were coming right for Aki. Without a moment’s hesitation, the blade of her scythe sunk deep into the Ridden’s skull, right between the eyes. Whilst she put the Ridden down onto the ground, Lee just watched. He watched the tremendous size of the Ridden, and how small Aki looked compared to it. He couldn’t fathom how it was that he ended up in this situation. His mind told him to move - to at least help a little. But his body had other ideas. It stayed planted firmly in place, unmoving. 

  
All the while, Aki was fighting the beast. It was down on the ground, white smoke coming from the place where the blade had punctured the Ridden’s surface. The girl was hacking away at the Ridden’s claws, more and more white smoke emerging as she tried to weaken it.  
  


* * *

  
  
“Lee.” An unknown voice called inside of Lee’s mind. Disoriented, and now being able to move, the boy in question looked around sheepishly, noticing that the Ridden was grounded. 

  
His name kept on repeating itself inside of his head, the same voice, tone, and volume. Willing for it to stop, Lee slammed his fists on the ground with extreme frustration. Once he did so, the voice stopped. 

  
“What?!” Lee yelled, anger in his voice, as he kept on looking around. Silence. 

  
“Punch the Ridden in the nose.” The voice replied, deadpan. Lee furrowed his eyebrows. 

  
“Are you fucking insane?” The boy huffed. “Punch that thing in the nose? I’m nowhere near strong enough to even be present in this form!” He snapped. 

  
“Well, then I’ll do it for you.” The voice grew deeper, more demonic with each word. His feet, knees, elbows and gauntlets burst into rich, crimson flames, and his body began moving on its own. It was running at the Ridden, fast. Any resistance Lee tried to commit himself to was to no avail, as he couldn’t stop his body from moving. With one jump, Lee’s body was in the air, his right fist drawn back and ready to attack. The Ridden watched Lee intently, with fear written within its eyes. 

  
As Lee’s body came within close enough proximity to the Ridden, his fist flew forward, taking his body along with it, from the sheer force that was put behind the punch. Lee yelped out in pain, feeling as if his arm was about to get ripped off. Once the knuckles of Lee’s fist made contact with the spot where Aki had previously cut the Ridden, an explosion of white light came from each spot where there was an opening, and the Ridden began to crumble into white ashes. Within the ashes, was the form of a young girl with a white cloth draped over her. 

  
Aki was watching the whole time. The time when Lee’s body basically burst into flames, and when his body was moving despite the resistance, fear, and shock on his face. The time when he punched the Ridden right on the spot where her blade had been. The time when, after the Ridden was gotten rid of and purified, his body was shriveled up on the ground, the flames no longer visible. She went up to the glowing form of the young girl, and put her palm to her head. The girl opened her eyes, gave a smile, and vanished from under Aki’s palm, a subtle glow left behind that faded rapidly.

Aki swung around, clutching her scythe with her left hand, and ran up to the boy that was on the floor. She trembled, not sure what state Lee was in exactly, and gently shook him by the shoulder.

Jerking awake, a sharp inhale bought Lee back into his body again. He sat up, his hair mussed and disorderly, his clothes had patches of dust and white ash was visibly settled on his trousers. 

"Oh lord, what the hell…?" Lee croaked, dusting off some of the ash from himself. Aki stepped back a little; she gave Lee some space. After letting out a cough, Lee picked himself up from the floor and ran his hand over his head, pulling his hair back along with it. "That was unprecedented." He let out a little more coughs, waving his hand in front of his face. 

"I uh," Aki looked at him. "Nice work there!" She gave a grin and a thumbs up. 

"Yeah uh, it wasn't me that did the work." He pointed to his oversized fists. "But I do think… that it is time to go home." He glanced around and shuddered, running back to the secluded area of the park. Following him, Aki bit her lip in a bit of thought, hesitant in letting Lee go off of the job this early. But she understood - he was new, and it does get a bit much when you aren't used to the weight that presses you down when you're near a Ridden. And their sheer size is frightening.

As the two of them dropped their weapons, their bodies returning to normal and their clothes also returned to how they were prior to their transformation, the two decided to go home. Lee kept his gloves on, and just put his hands in his pockets. 

"So, once you've Awakened, you'll be a Reaper." Aki grinned, lifting her feet high above the pavement where they walked, her voice with a hint of sing-song. To her statement, Lee could only give a confused, frustrated sigh. 

"What exactly is an Awakening?" Furrowing his brows, he questioned her.

"You'll see. It's nothing scary though so don't worry about that." Her vague reply only sparked more concern within Lee. The boy could only slump his shoulders and give a tired sigh.

"I hope its not as scary as some of the Riddening I'll meet." Lee joked, earning a half-hearted chuckle from Aki.

"It wont be, trust me." She reassured him, the two ending up at the corner shop. There was a black BMW E9 2800 CS pulled up to the curb, the engine starting as soon as Aki got close to the door of the passenger's seat. The windows weren't tinted, but the person in the driver's seat was staring Lee down without being noticed. The car overall had some small refurbishing made, with a very dark, custom interior, hints of yellow peeking through the windows. Outside, the car was well-kept, polished, and absolutely no signs of scuffing or accidents were visible. As Aki waved to Lee and sat down inside the car, within seconds, there was a roar of the engine that filled the streets, and the car was gone in a blur. 

Lee could probably swear blind that, as Aki got in, there was a flash of yellow cuffs - probably previously covered by a suit of some sort - and the glint of two golden, thin bands around the person's wrists. Knowing that anything can be a Reaper Item terrified him; a small seed of paranoia planted itself in his mind. Hoping to ignore this, he just weakly waved and went on his way home, his hands in his pockets the whole time. 

* * *

Once Lee got home, greeted his mum and ran upstairs, he pried his gloves off and threw them across his room, the pair hitting the wall and then landing on the floor. Afterwards, he scrambled to the opposite side of the room, his body faintly trembling, and his breathing was staggered again.

Whoever or whatever lived or existed within those gloves was something he wouldn't be able to deal with at the time, let alone cooperate with.

His eyes were glued to the gloves that lay on the floor, his breath caught in his throat as if he was expecting something to happen. Nothing did happen. Seconds felt like minutes. Minutes felt like hours.

As Lee's moment of false anticipation faded to nothingness, he relaxed, walked up to the gloves and picked them up, taking a good look at them. A brief glance around the room, and he put them one again, one at a time, hoping to gain an explanation, or try to face a Ridden again and defeat it by himself.

Before Lee could even attempt to put the other glove on, a tight, blood-stopping grasp anchored at his forearm, a panic washing over the boy as he tried to get the glove off in a hurry, yet again. Leather like this wouldn't rip easily, and he wasn't sure if Reaper Items could get destroyed either. At a moments notice, he lost control of his body once more. Any defiance was futile. His hand, as if a robot, snaked around and took hold of the other glove and slipped it on. The same grip struck his other arm.

With an uncontrolled snap of his fingers, Lee's eyes had a gradient of blue and red, and it felt like he was watching his body from third person - just vaguely hovering somewhere in his room. Meanwhile, his body continued to move on its own, turning to face where Lee was looking at himself from. A casual clap of Lee's hands and the boy's body engulfed itself in flames of blood red.

From within the flames emerged a figure - a female, and looked roughly the same age as Lee and Aki. She had short, white hair, a somewhat round face, red eyes and a strikingly sharp jawline. The clothing was the same as Lee's Reaper outfit - light brown leather jacket, combat boots, gray trousers, belt - but they all fit differently, as if whoever this was, was extremely fit and muscular. There were a couple of major differences though: goggles lay atop the girl's head, there were bright red streaks coming from where the gauntlets finished near the elbow, and there were various pockets on the trousers, making them look more like cargo pants than anything else.

"Hey. I'm the thing that lives in your gloves." The girl spoke, her voice somewhat deep. Lee recognised the voice as the same one that took control of his body when he was battling the Ridden from earlier. "I'm also the one that made you look like you have balls when you were facing that Ridden from before." She laughed, slapping her knee. "You were so terrified! It was hilarious."

Lee crossed his arms and gave a huff.

"Now, don't you look at me like that, I'm here to help. They do tend to be scary things unless you really think about it. They're people's nightmares, after all." Shrugging, the woman walked around Lee's room for a brief moment before sitting down on his bed. "And we are stuck together, after all."

'What are you?' Lee tried to voice, but nothing came out of his mouth - just the words he thought he said bounced around his mind.

"Oh?" The girl looked up. "Well, I'll give it to you - you're new and have only just seen what the True World looks like." She cleared her throat.

There was a long, deafening pause that seemed to drag on forever. Lee wondered what exactly was happening.

"I'm Amayachi Rin, a reborn Reaper, and I just looked into your mind a bit, sorry. We are one now, after all." Amayachi let out a small, mischievous giggle. Lee jumped, first at the sudden outburst of noise and then stepped back at the sound of the giggle.

"Reborn Reapers don't happen often, I don't think. There's a 50% chance it will be successful anyway, but with the help of my gir-" the girl paused and cleared her throat. "With the help of Aki, I was reborn again. My body may be dead after what I've gotten myself involved with, but my Reaper spirit lives on. And I'm gonna help you now. Although, it does suck I have to cooperate with a lanky body like yours. Bulk up a little, will ya?" The girl swung her legs around a bit, taking another good look at the room.

"Alright, I'll let your soul back into your body, just get over here." Amayachi beckoned him over, giving another clap of the gauntlets. In a flurry of red fire, Lee's body was back. Another snap of the fingers and Lee actually saw the world in first person, yet again. It felt a bit odd, but nothing was off. The grasp at his arms was gone, and the boy let out a long sigh, looking out of his window, wondering why he got involved in this situation.

It wasn't long before it got dark, and Lee had to admit that a lot had happened today and yesterday. After getting discharged from hospital a day earlier, he was already involved in what he thought was some type of cult. He threw himself onto his bed, forgetting that he had left his gloves on. He soon fell into the grasp of sleep, his mostly mental exhaustion settling in.

* * *

Whilst Lee was still under the hold of sleep, his mother came into the room to check up on the odd silence.

Usually, the boy would be sitting by his computer, playing online games with his friends, talking, laughing, cracking jokes, giving callouts, commands, and eventually, congratulating his friends with a round of applause - win or lose. This cycle repeated a couple of times, depending on what game he was playing.

Mrs. Shang was extremely concerned and puzzled as to why her son was asleep this early, and his computer wasn't even touched. She came up to him, being careful not to make noise and wake him up. Kneeling down very slowly and gently, she soon realised that Lee was deep asleep - on the verge of snoring. Something struck her as odd though - he hasn't changed out of the clothes when he went out earlier, and he had odd, leather gloves. Taking a closer look, without making contact, she knitted her brows together, her nose scrunching with confusion. Where did he get these from? Do they have any significance? Did they do anything in particular? With all these questions running through her mind, a single tear traced along her cheek - so much has happened, and her facade of a cool and composed mother was cracking apart, like layers of glass put through a hydraulic press.

Her son got stabbed out of mysterious circumstances, her husband was relocated once more and wouldn't come home for at least another two weeks - totalling a month and a half that he has been away - and now some odd articles of clothing have been given to her son, which, realistically, could suggest anything. The last thing she wanted was her only son getting involved in something that could possibly endanger him.

Sniffling quietly, she placed a singular, gentle peck on Lee's gloved hand, looking over her son's sleeping face again, and then slowly got up and left the room, turning back once more at the door before she left. A small, tired, but hopeful sigh, and she hooked her finger on the door handle and quietly shut the door to Lee's room.

Wiping her eyes in a hurry, she couldn't catch up with the amount of tears that were now streaming down, considering the waterworks have slipped open. She hurriedly went downstairs, took a deep breath and eyed a very specific cupboard - quite quickly cringing at the idea of cracking it open once more. 'Not today', her mind repeated. As she ghosted over to the sink, she let some cold water run through the tap, waited a couple of seconds before cupping her hands and splashing her face with it. Repeating this action a couple more times until she felt it was sufficient, she turned off the tap and wiped her face with a tea towel that hung slightly off above the bin, to the left of the sink.

Their kitchen had dark, marbled, tiled flooring, with slightly greyed-out grout, an island placed right in the middle, three champagne-style lights hanging above it, which illuminated the black granite worktop. There was a hidden outlet built into it, which when you pressed it, popped out four outlet points. Press it back in and it seamlessly blended in with the rest of the stone. The cupboards were solid oak, which was simply treated with Danish oil to bring out the richness of the wood. Around the island, was the rest of the worktop situated in an L shape - a gas stove and electric oven combination placed in the middle of the long side of the worktop. Near the wall to the right of the stove, where the worktop and the fridge met, was a lonely microwave. On the shorter side, there was a sink, a hanger to the left of it, a bin below the hanger and a window above it all - letting in some natural light and showing off the garden.

The woman took a deep breath, placed her hands on her hips and turned to look at the living room, deciding to occupy her mind with a bit of television.

* * *

Meanwhile, Lee's dreams were sprinkled with hints about what his new alter-ego had in store for him. 

Mentions of attacks, tactics, traditions and other trivial - albeit useful - things were in the forefront of his mind. However, somewhere deep, there was a feeling of constant, perpetuating uncertainty. The type that you could physically feel, yet can't entirely get rid of unless you took action against it. Lee knew that his own emotions weren't the source of the clinging uneasiness.

That eccentric feeling was the one that woke him up. His eyes cracked open, a deep inhale of the air around him finally made him come to his senses. Propping his body on one of his arms, he wiped his eyes awake, and glanced around his room, seeing that it was dark. Peeking out the window, he realised that stars were scattered across the sky. Giving a silent groan at the fact that he forgot to change out of his clothes - and that he slept for so long - he got up, kicked off his shoes into a corner and pried of the gloves that he hand on his hands, placing them on his desk. He checked his phone that lay right beside the gloves he just put down - 10pm. Something told him that there was a slim chance that his mum was awake by now, so he creeped into her bedroom just to check. Alas - no mother in bed. His next option was to check the downstairs, which was convenient due to his growing hunger.

As he walked down the stairs and went to the kitchen, he overheard the TV playing in the living room. Familiar, hopeful and avenging music soon filled the living room, corridor and the kitchen. Pulling open the fridge, Lee picked out a slice of ham, a slice of cheese, putting them in his mouth. He took turned his attention to the yogurts that were placed on the bottom of the fridge, unopened. His favourite - the ones with corners that you can bend over into the yogurt and mix together for an exceptionally crunchy experience. He took one out, shut the fridge, slid open the cutlery drawer and whipped out a spoon, then bumped the drawer with his hip to close it again.

Entering the living room, he opened his yogurt, tipped the corner over and mixed it, standing in the doorway. Going into the room further, he noticed his mum curled up on the sofa, with a box of tissues by her side, and a couple of crumpled up bunches on the other side. 

"Hello Lee." His mother sobbed, her voice unusually high pitched. "Just watching… another movie." She called him over, clearing the space next to her and patted the seat with her hand. Lee maneuvered around the table that was in front and sat down, watching the screen.

"Ah, this scene. I remember when we went to the cinema to watch this. The whole screen room cried." Lee gave a chuckle. In response, his mother nodded and laughed. "Including you." He nudged her. Mrs. Shang gave a nod and a smile.

"He's just so heroic when he turns the table and snaps his fingers, the energy the scene holds is unbelievable…" She paused the movie and grinned. "Good to have you back home, Lee." His mother turned to look at him, her eyes a little heavy after the tears that were given out both from her prior crying, and the current one.

"Good to be back home, mum." 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
